Alan Walker
Alan Olav Walker (born 24 August 1997) is a British-Norwegian DJ and record producer, born in Northampton, United Kingdom. Early Life: Alan Walker is the son of Hilde Omdal Walker, a Norwegian, and Philip Alan Walker, an Englishman. By birth, he was granted dual citizenship, both in Norway and the United Kingdom on the basis of his parental origin. At the age of two, he moved to Bergen, Norway, with his parents and siblings. Walker grew up with two siblings, an older sister, Camilla, born in England, and a younger brother, Andreas, born in Norway. Growing up in the digital era, Walker found an early interest in computers, which later turned into a fascination for programming and graphic design. He initially had no musical background; however, he later taught himself by watching tutorials on YouTube based on music production. Career: 2012–2015: In 2012, Walker was listening to a song by Italian DJ David Whistle (also known as DJ Ness) and reached out to him to find out how he produced his music. He was inspired by EDM producers K-391 and Ahrix, and by film composers like Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky.8 He started producing his music on his laptop using FL Studio. In July 2012, with the help and feedback from his fans online, he began pursuing his music production career and slowly began posting his music to YouTube and SoundCloud. Started as a bedroom producer, he was better known as DJ Walkzz before signing a record deal and releasing his debut single in 2014. Walker released the track "Fade" on 17 August 2014.9 The track gained attention after its re-release via the record label NoCopyrightSounds on 19 November.10 Walker stated that the creation of the track was inspired by K-391 and Ahrix, whose tracks were also picked up by the record label. The track has over 370 million views on YouTube,11 79 million plays on Spotify,12 and 35 million streams on SoundCloud.13 The tracks "Spectre" and "Force" followed in 2015. Walker signed with MER Musikk under Sony Music Sweden and released his next single, "Faded", a remastered vocal version of "Fade". It was released on 8 December 2015 and featured uncredited Naustdal pop singer Iselin Solheim.14 The single topped the year-end charts in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, iTunes charts in 33 countries, as well as entering top 10 in Spotify Global Chart. The music video on YouTube has over 2.2 billion views and 15 million likes,15 placing it among the top 10 most liked YouTube videos. It has over 780 million plays on Spotify,16 and is also one of the Top 10 Most Shazamed tracks of 2016.17 The single also received official remixes from Tiësto,18 Dash Berlin, and Hardwell. He later released an acoustic "restrung" version of the song, with all the EDM elements taken out.19 2016: Walker quit high school in January to pursue his music career.20 On 27 February, Walker made his performance debut at the Winter X Games in Oslo, where he performed 15 tracks including the song "Faded" together with Iselin Solheim.2122 By March, Walker had produced 30 to 40 songs in total, but "Faded" marks his first single with Sony Music Sweden, and the first to achieve such global success.17 On 7 April, Walker teamed up with Swedish singer Zara Larsson at the Echo Awards in Germany. Together they performed each other's songs "Faded" and "Never Forget You".23 Four weeks previously, he achieved the first place on NRJ Euro Hot 30 for the first time, which only has been achieved by one other Norwegian artist, Kygo.24 The single "Sing Me to Sleep" was released on 3 June, featuring female vocalist Iselin Solheim, the same vocalist in "Faded". The song topped iTunes charts in 7 countries. Its music video on YouTube has over 400 million views,25 and it also reached 170 million plays on Spotify.26 The single "Alone" was released on 2 December, featuring uncredited Swedish singer Noonie Bao.27 The music video on YouTube has over 740 million views,28 the track also gained over 210 million plays on Spotify.29 The song was described as "the final piece of a trilogy consisting of 'Faded', 'Sing Me To Sleep' and 'Alone'" by Gunnar Greeve, Walker's manager and co-writer for the single.30 2017: At the beginning of 2017, Walker's YouTube channel became the most subscribed channel registered in Norway, after passing about 4.5 million subscribers, and had the most views among Norwegian YouTubers at around 3.4 billion views as of 10 February 2018.362 On 7 April, Walker released the song "Ignite" instrumental version, which featured Norwegian music producer and songwriter K-391. It was released as a promotion of the launch of the Sony Xperia XZs smartphone. On 19 May, Walker released his first song with a male vocalist, Irish singer-songwriter Gavin James, titled "Tired". Walker said that the song "adds another dimension" to his productions. Its music video on YouTube has over 102 million views.37 On 9 June, his collaboration with Dane Alex Skrindo, "Sky", was released on the compilation Insomniac Records Presents: EDC Las Vegas 2017. Its music video on YouTube has over 36 million views.38 On 15 September, he released "The Spectre", a revamped version with vocals of his 2015 single "Spectre". The single’s music video contains footage of his concerts, along with a team of dancers dressed in white jumpsuits and black helmets. The video currently has over 560 million views. On 27 October, Walker released the song "All Falls Down", which featured American singer Noah Cyrus and British DJ and record producer Digital Farm Animals. The video storyline follows the visual for his previous song "Tired". Its YouTube music video has been viewed over 164 million times.3940 2018: During his 2018 Ultra Music Festival Miami set, Walker was joined by Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren on stage, where they debuted "Slow Lane", their new collaboration.41 However, the record did not end up being featured on his album, and as of March 2019, it has yet to be released. In April, he performed at the 2018 Coachella, a music festival held in Indio, California.42 On 11 May, Walker and Norwegian music producer K-391 (Kenneth Nilsen) released "Ignite" vocal version, which featured Norwegian singer Julie Bergan and South Korean singer Seungri.434445 The music video was released on 12 May on K-391's YouTube channel because Nilsen was the lead artist of this single.43 Its YouTube music video has been viewed over 100 million times.4647 On 27 July, he released "Darkside", featuring Au/Ra from Ibiza and Norwegian singer Tomine Harket, daughter of A-ha vocalist Morten Harket.48 On 21 August, he released a re-boot of his 'Unmasked' vlog series, in which he films behind the scenes of his concerts and personal life.49 On 30 August, he released a remix of "Sheep" by Exo member Lay.50 On 28 September, he released the single "Diamond Heart" featuring Sophia Somajo.51 On 30 November, he released the single "Different World" from his debut studio album of the same name. The album was released on 14 December.52 It contains the following new songs: Lost Control (featuring Sorana), I Don't Wanna Go (featuring Julie Bergan), Lily (featuring K-391 and Emelie Hollow), Lonely (featuring Steve Aoki, ISAK, and Omar Noir), and Do It All For You (featuring Trevor Guthrie).53 2019: On 22 February, Walker released the single "Are You Lonely", featuring American DJ Steve Aoki and ISAK. It is a remix of the original song Lonely from his debut album Different World.54 On 21 March, Walker released the single "On My Way", featuring Sabrina Carpenter and Farruko. Its YouTube music video has been viewed over 152 million times. Why His Songs Rock: # He's a DJ producer who, over the years, has gone beyond a DJ because he is not just mixing but commenting on our technological society. # His single albums are great. # His music videos were amazing and well edited. # He has made many memorable songs, such as Faded, On My Way, Alone, Different World and Unity. Discography: Studio albums * Different World Extended plays * Alan Walker Hits * Faded Japan EP Singles * "Fade" * "Spectre" * "Force" * "Faded" * "Sing Me to Sleep" * "Alone" * "Routine" (with David Whistle) * "Tired" (featuring Gavin James) * "The Spectre" * "All Falls Down" (featuring Noah Cyrus and Digital Farm Animals) * "Darkside" (featuring Au/Ra and Tomine Harket) * "Diamond Heart" (featuring Sophia Somajo) * "Different World" (featuring Sofia Carson, K-391 and Corsak) * "Are You Lonely" (with Steve Aoki featuring Isák) * "On My Way" (featuring Sabrina Carpenter and Farruko) * "Live Fast" (with A$AP Rocky) Category:2010s Category:Artists Category:EDM Category:Electro house Category:Progressive house Category:Big room house Category:1997 Births